Splendour in the Grass offering scholarships for students who are ‘really strapped right now’
Scholarships are awarded based on a range of criteria, which reflect the values and aims of the festival.
Popular music festival Splendour In The Grass is offering a first of its kind scholarship: one for students who find themselves short on money for tickets.
Full and half scholarships are being offered by the Splendour Assistance and Cash Contribution (SACC) program and is open to financially-challenged students from across the country.
The festival will become the first independent event to provide such a program.
Those vying for a highly coveted full-fee scholarship must prove they deserve the spot by demonstrating two skills: the first mandatory component involves finding effective and creative ways of stashing drugs on one’s person, while the second component is a choice between speed tent-pitching or best muddy moshing.
Masters student Jake Evans says, “I think it’s huge. These festies are just a hub for young people to tune out from responsibilities and money is a big one of those. Splendour is smart for taking advantage of that.”
Evans says festivals of this scale often don’t recognise the financial struggles of their participants. As an undergraduate, he always wanted to be able to attend the main event as well as the sideshows, but the sums he scraped together never quite added up.
“Every student is strapped for cash, and you can only borrow so much from your parents,” Evans stated.
Bethany Hill, director of the SACC says they’ve had many looking to apply for the scholarship.
“And to think we thought the pre-sale was hectic. 97% of ticket buyers have also applied for the program. I think this is a huge success,” Hill told The Garter.